Best PlacesBridgeport, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Bridgeport metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via commons
Bridgeport ranks 40th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $136,678, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, long commutes, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in the Bridgeport metro
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Bridgeport's strengths and weaknesses
Bridgeport ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. High incomes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Fast internet and big-city access follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Bridgeport ranks high
- Household income$136,678 median, better than 99% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of metro areas
Where Bridgeport ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,858 a month, better than only 1% of metro areas
- Short commute31.0 minutes each way, better than only 3% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Bridgeport
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bridgeport home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $136,678, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Bridgeport's effective rate of 1.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bridgeport
Bridgeport's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bridgeport.
Who works in Bridgeport, and how
Work in Bridgeport centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Bridgeport
Bridgeport has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bridgeport and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bridgeport growing, and who is moving in?
Bridgeport has grown about 3% over the last decade.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bridgeport go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bridgeport, month by month
Bridgeport sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Bridgeport
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 45 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bridgeport
Schools across Bridgeport average a B−, better than 71% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Sherman SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- South SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Riverside SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saxe Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Middlesex Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Bedford Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Rye High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Pawling High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Dover High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bridgeport school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bridgeport measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Bridgeport against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Bridgeport suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bridgeport
Is Bridgeport a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bridgeport ranks 40th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on high incomes, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bridgeport expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $678,621. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $136,678 median income, cost of living beats 98% of metro areas.
Is Bridgeport safe?
Bridgeport is safer than 41% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bridgeport?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 25. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 19% of metro areas.
Is Bridgeport good for families?
Schools beat 71% of metro areas, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,858 a month.
Is Bridgeport good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 99% of metro areas. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bridgeport with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bridgeport. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bridgeport represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Bridgeport detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bridgeport: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bridgeport: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bridgeport: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bridgeport: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bridgeport detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.